First OSE Annual Report + Team for 2013

We’ve been quiet but very busy lately –  and we have a lot of good news to share with you. First, here is Open Source Ecology’s first ever Annual Report for download. Thanks to Aaron Makaruk for doing a great job putting the report together. It shows a good graphical picture of what we’ve accomplished in 2012 – highlighting our busiest and most productive year so far.

We have been busy developing machines and optimizing their production. My favorite highlight is that we have reached a single day production time – for our automated Compressed Earth Brick (CEB) Press. Now we aim to reach this production speed for each of the 50 Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) machines. In my TED Talk, I mentioned that I “built a tractor – in 6 days.” Well, it gets even better.

We are starting to see international adoption – more than a dozen GVCS machines have now been replicated from our open blueprints – in 5 countries around the world. Our next step is pilot projects – to prove our machines further – and make them ready for widespread use.

At the same time we realized in 2012 that we had hit ceiling of what we can do as volunteer driven organization, so now we are spending 2013 strengthening the foundations of OSE. We’ve faced some challenges over the years, learning how to scale a mission-driven organization in challenging circumstances, while working without a strong organizational foundation or full-time core group.  While we’ve had great contributions from many volunteers and part-time contributors, we believe that the groundwork we’re laying now, finally, will really provide OSE the solid backing to grow quickly and effectively, and the capacity to incorporate passionate and talented volunteer contributors from around the world. As an organization we faced many growing pains in pursuit of a vision we feel very strongly about. I want to show my personal gratitude for the patience and support you’ve offered me and our team as we’ve learned, through our victories and mistakes.

I am glad to announce that we have just recruited a full time Operations Manager, Product Lead, Technical Community Manager, and Documentation Manager. With a solid core team, we are now ready for OSE 2.0. So stay tuned – more updates on these exciting developments are forthcoming.

Thanks for your support in making our goals a reality.  Our goal is nothing short of the next industrial revolution – the Open Source Microindustrial Revolution.

Update (from Aaron): I want to thank Randy Peterson for helping us with the accounting. He went way above and beyond the call of duty to help us with our books, and the annual report wouldn’t be possible without his help.